WHILE having coffee at The Atrium here in Iloilo City on Thursday, I chanced upon fellow media men who said that Sen. Loren Legarda was in town to speak at a gathering at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) and to meet political leaders from Antique regarding her intention to run for congresswoman of the province. Not surprising; she is a “graduating” senator.
On that same day, a fellow emailed me a document containing tabulated results of a political survey indicating rankings of probable candidates for congressmen, governors and vice governors in Antique.
The source and pollster – which I would rather not confirm pending verification – was allegedly a “UP group.” The surveyors had purportedly interviewed a number of 1,000 respondents from 10 municipalities with 100 respondents from each of the municipalities of San Jose, Sibalom, Bugasong, Culasi, Hamtic, Laua-an, Pandan, Patnongon, and Tobias Fornier.
Who would not be impressed? Legarda is the runaway survey leader supported by 70 percent of the respondents; followed by Exequiel Javier (a former governor), 25 percent; and Genevive Lim-Reyes (outgoing mayor of Caluya), three percent; undecided, two percent.
While the survey also shows Gov. Rhodora “Dodod” Cadiao and Vice Gov. Edgar Denosta naturally leading – being incumbent re-electionists – the surge of supporters for the lady senator is a big surprise. “Boy Ex” Javier is a veteran of three decades in local politics. He had never been defeated until 2016 when he lost to former ally Cadiao.
This corner had opined in a past column that Legarda would not risk running for representative of Antique. She has not grown up there and does not speak Kinaray-a, and her only claim to being an Antiqueña is her being a descendant of Antique-born grandparents.
Probably because of that handicap, she has not yet publicly declared herself available for a lower position that could embroil her in a three-cornered fight with Javier and Reyes. And as the rumor circulating in the province goes, she was lobbying to be appointed secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development at the end of her Senate term in 2019.
Reyes, on the other hand, is a native Antiqueña and president of the League of Municipalities (Antique chapter); hence, she supposedly enjoys the loyalty of most of the 18 town mayors.
I had also expressed the opinion that should the two ladies compete for the House in 2019, in a three-cornered fight they would give undue advantage to Boy Ex.
I had also presumed that outgoing Caluya mayor Genevive Lim-Reyes – daughter of the late Reynante Lim Sr. who was mayor from 2007 to 201 0 – would bank on her native popularity as her most potent “passport” to the House of Representatives.
Sometime last year, however, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended Reyes for six months for “illegal cutting of coconut trees.” Though she has already returned to office, she has since then kept a low profile, triggering public perception that she would stay out of politics in the next three years following the end of her mayoral term in 2019. This could be because she owes a debt of gratitude to the other expected contender for congressman, Boy Ex Javier, who has always been her political ally. She just might mobilize her political strength to help Javier.
On the other hand, it is no secret that the former Antique governor, Sally Zaldivar Perez, has been persuading Mayor Reyes to support Senator Legarda instead for whatever trade-off. If she finds the aforesaid initial survey credible – where Boy Ex’s son, outgoing congressman Paolo, also lags behind Cadiao for governor – she just might give in. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
